Younger Students Show Gains in Math, Reading Skills - washingtonpost.com: The nation's 9- and 13-year-olds are doing better in math and reading than in the early 1970s, but average scores for students approaching high school graduation haven't budged, according to test results released today.
Performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which offers a long view of the achievement of American schoolchildren, shows several bright spots.
Nine-year-olds in 2008 posted the highest average scores ever: 220 in reading and 243 in math on a 500-point scale. For comparison, scores were 208 in reading in 1971 and 219 in math in 1973.
Black and Hispanic students made strong gains in the latest testing. But the high school results were less encouraging. Seventeen-year-olds did no better in reading or math since the early 1970s.
David P. Driscoll, a member of the director of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees the exams, said the overall picture shows promise but is mixed.
